The stadium located in Belo Horizonte is expected to undergo changes before the Women’s World Cup, but none of them will be of major impact
(foto: EM/DA Press)
After being announced as the venue for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, Mineirão was inspected by FIFA this Friday (16/5). The stadium will undergo improvement works before the World Cup. In addition, those responsible for the process for the entity reported the next steps and more details about the games that the Giant of Pampulha will host.
In a press conference, Swiss Rhiannon Martin, head of the Women’s World Cup department, and Brazilian Valesca Araújo, head of competition and team services for the World Cup, said that the objective of the inspection is to check the spaces available, such as the stadium’s infrastructure. They have already said that Mineirão will undergo improvements, but without major interventions – general renovations, regular maintenance, are planned, with no structural works.
“Mineirão presented its improvement plans earlier. The stadium will continue to operate until the World Cup. The idea is not to make major changes or alterations. We intend to use what is already there. So the renovations and improvements are already planned by Mineirão for its own use. And the adaptations we have been making are things that will remain as a legacy, to further improve the structure. We do not intend to make major changes that will later be removed and leave nothing in the space,” said Valesca.
There are still a few more steps to be taken after the inspection. FIFA representatives also detailed the process and specified Mineirão’s plans to host games. “After this visit, we will analyze again which matches will be held here. The minimum is five matches for each stadium. Then we will decide which stadium will host the opening, semi-final and final,” said Rhiannon.
The schedule continues with more meetings in the coming months: “We will analyze what we saw here today, we will have some meetings during the months of July and August. Then we will return for another technical visit to check the spaces and structure. In October, we will organize a seminar and bring together the host cities and the eight stadiums, to continue the preparation”. In addition to the stadium inspection, FIFA will select the Training Centers that will be available to the teams. The training centers and/or fields must be available for excl
usive use by the team for approximately 45 days during the World Cup. The competition will start on June 24 and will have the grand final on July 25, 2027. No Ataque had learned that América registered Independência and the training center located in Santa Luzia in the FIFA selection process. Atlético made Cidade do Galo available. Cruzeiro, in turn, decided not to register Toca da Raposa. Regarding the selection of training centers, Valesca said that they are yet to be defined – probably next year. “This is a separate process from the stadium process. And it is ongoing, it will not end this year.
They will probably only decide next year. We inspected all of them, some with a focus on being training grounds for teams that come to play here and others as training centers, which are the homes of the national teams. Some other cities in Minas Gerais have already shown interest and we will inspect them starting in July,” he said.
